Friday, June 1, 2018

Lounching Love My Neighbor Day "Scottdsale" With Bank of America and Victory Outreach

Enormously excited
about the new great initiative and collaboration that we launched centered on my
public art project in Carson’s tough “Scottsdale” neighborhood.We started the Love My Neighbor Day as
celebration of community in a unique personal collaboration with Bank of
America.

Knowing full well
how difficult it is to get any attention in Scottsdale and how even more
difficult to turn it into a participation - makes what we did even more
meaningful.

We had 20 to 25 kids
participating in the art program.Huge
number for Scottsdale.That included
some tough and trouble kids.It was difficult
but we did it as even the hardest to get attention kids ended up getting
engaged in art making.

While kids were
doing art the group their parents had a unique chance to participated in the
Better Money Habits with Bank of America specialists.This group of residents took advantage of a
unique opportunity to get an in-depth personal financial advise from some of
BoA’s top regional and local execs.5
executives worked with residents individually.

Huge kudos go to
Victory Outreach for their work on the ground to build trust and communication
with residents and kids and manage attendance while Artward and BoA provided
unique additional programs.Just as we
believed, this proved to be a powerful and effective collaboration worth every
bit of long hard work that went into it.

The most amazing
part of BoA collaboration is that their participants are companies’ veterans of
outreach, passionate about the local community and diversity, some having a
multi-decade Carson experience.They
knew full well what Scottsdale is.

This unique program
left deep impression in “Scottsdale” and making serious impact.The influence of local Piru gang on kids and
residents has now a unique alternative.

Artward! Gallery - Scottsdale, Carson

"MY NEIGHBORS: Capturing the Soul of America's Diverse City" a series by Alexey Steele

There is a lot of adversity to overcome in today’s world. For me the answer to many difficult questions that we presented with daily is in the simple principle "Love My Neighbor".

Loving one’s neighbor is the foundational building block in the moral fiber of our society. I make my case with ongoing "My Neighbors Series" a collection of portrayals of the people around me in our City of Carson.

Carson is a great city, statistically one of the most diverse in the nation, a community most closely reflecting our World. Carson is great because of its people and the diversity is its most important asset.

I was honored to be awarded The City of Carson Cultural Arts Commission grant for 2015/16 and then again for 2016/17 to continue working on "My Neighbors Series"in collaboration with the City of Carson.

I was also honored to be awarded 2016 and, recently, 2017 additional grants by Wells Fargo Bank.

I am grateful for a long-term support and sponsorship for my cultural outreach programs by Rand Resources, LLC

It is a great privilege to collaborate and coordinate my Carson projects with 501c3 non-profit Artward Initiative.

Art can lift aspirations and give us all an important common ground in today’s divisive times. I believe that as we are continuously exposed to the stream of escalating negativenews we need to focus on people in communities that inspire us in positive ways. I take inspiration for this series from my community that overcomes adversity.

Every street and every neighborhood has its own widely loved neighbors. What I want to capture through My Neighbors is the unique, iconic and deeply human qualities that make ordinary people the true bedrock of our communities and who give us something meaningful, true and solid to hold onto in times of trouble, which is especially important in neighborhoods like Scottsdale.

At the kind of times that we live in I want ART to help people fill what I call The Dignity Gap.

I believe that strengthening community bonds by getting to know and love one’s neighbors is an answer to many of the difficult issues facing society today. I hope that My Neighbors will encourage visitors to see their own neighbors from a new perspective and take the message of love for one’s neighbor back to their own streets.

I want to capture people in these painting who you cannot help but love. Through the Love My Neighbor public art project, I want to encourage other people to notice and embrace human beacons in their own neighborhoods.

These are the overlooked heroes of our society.

I also believe in the public nature of ART. In this I am following in the footsteps of my late father, an important Ukrainian artist Leonid Steele and this project is my homage to him.

Just as my father went into remote villages of Ukraine to capture the expression of real people and share it with them, I am following this family tradition to capture in paint the strength, the dignity and the grace at the rock bottom of our society, which is so often the bedrock of our community.